40K: Claiming Objectives – Commorragh Style
We’ve been running tons of mathhammer on the new Dark Eldar Codex, but what really matters on the tabletop is taking and holding objectives. Here’s ten ideas to effectively use Dark Eldar to pull that off.
1. Wracks. Wracks are troops in almost every Dark Eldar army we would consider playing, because Haemonculi are in most Dark Eldar armies. Since they start with Feel No Pain inherently, these creatures are ideal for standing on or near objectives in your own territory and jetting across the board in their Raiders to grab an objective not held by crazy assault units. What they do especially well is kill T3 (and T4, if they have 2 tokens) troops units, but they don’t work in small numbers. Use Raiders for these guys if you plan to have them actually accomplish anything.
2. Kabalite Warriors. The old large squad with twin Dark Lances is still a good choice. Plant these fellows on a friendly objective and you have strong anti-vehicle firepower and good staying power as well, even without FNP. Another version we like is the all Splinter Drive-By Raider. Yes, the bad guy gets armor saves, but they will get the chance to take LOTS of them. The Drive-By unit isn’t a great option for taking far objectives, though, as it draws return fire. We like a small squad in a Venom, held in Reserve, as a late-turn objective grabber.
3. Wyches. Wyches are annoyingly durable in close combat and are great for drawing multiple tough units into tarpit assaults (especially if you Shardnet the heck out of the Super IC in the mix). The best use we’ve found for Wyches is drawing units out of position by presenting a threat that must be answered; if you somehow manage to hold an objective with Wyches it’s probably because all the enemy troops are dead already.
4. Hellions. With the Baron, Hellions become scoring. A big block of them is initially scary, but they lack the stamina to hold out against a concerted enemy attack. Hellions are like Wyches with no invulnerable saves, so they’re a great threat, but ultimately not a good choice for the objective grabbing mission. Using them to pull Independent Characters out of units and disrupt the enemy battleplan is how they contribute most to objective control. Play them well, and you can force multiple enemy units to pursue them, effectively neutralizing many times their point value.
5. Incubi. We know- they are not troops. But Incubi will clear almost any objective for you, making them an ideal unit for breaking the enemy’s back at a critical area. Coming out of a Webway Portal in the deep backfield is an ideal situation for them, but mounting them on a Raider and hurling straight into the enemy stronghold is probably your best bet. Make sure you have adequate anti-vehicle fire in place to give them fat juicy targets to hack to ribbons when they get there!
6. Cronos. These guys power up units and, properly upgraded, give you a very effective blast weapon. A Cronos walking behind your advancing Wyches, Hellions, and/or Incubi helps put more Pain Tokens out there and can threaten any bad guys with the bright idea to assault your advancing Raiders.
7. Webway Portals. The Webway portal creates a new “board edge” that you can exploit. Since you’re taking at least 2 Haemonculi (see #1 above), consider one or two of these to give your Reserves exciting options. Placing one Portal as near to the center of the board (and the enemy lines, if possible) and fielding potent Outflanking reserves will make the entire board unsafe for the enemy – a perfect situation for a crafty Archon with a lightning fast army.
8. Blitzing. Another brutal way to use the Dark Eldar, especially if you are going first in a Dawn of War or Pitched Battle deployments is the all-out Blitz attack. Hold nothing or minimal reserves back and throw your entire force into the enemy from the starting buzzer. Usually this will result in little to no enemy pressure against your rear objectives, meaning that you only have to contest the foe’s objectives to walk away with a win.
9. Reserving. If you are going second and/or the deployment is Spearhead, consider reserving everything except a Webway delivery unit or two. Letting the enemy spread out to multiple objectives while you cunningly keep most of your army safely off the board. When you do come in, you can likely overrun individual areas of the board with massive weight of fire and Furious Charging assaults.
10. Dirty Tricks. This Codex is fittingly chock full of dirty tricks. If you’ve looked at the wargear section you have no doubt come across some that you really like. One of our favorites isn’t wargear, it is the Grotesques. Try putting Grotesques in a Raider and shoot them across the board into an area with two or more nearby objectives and as much of the enemy army nearby as possible. Power them up to Fearless and you have an ticking time bomb ready to Berzerk Rampage and destroy all those enemy infantry your Dark Lances have thrown out of their comfy metal boxes. Just the threat of their Rampage can drive the enemy out of position, making cutting down the sheep so much easier for your well equipped assault force.
